Damn it, Richard, what the f***?!

by Belvin Louie and Miriam Ching Yoon Louie SF BayView
Belvin writes:

1. 

   The front page of the March 1969 issue of the UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) newspaper shows TWLF strike leaders Richard Aoki of the Asian American Political Alliance, Charlie Brown of the Afro American Student Union and Manuel Delgado of the Mexican American Student Confederation representing Third World solidarity. – Photo: Muhammad Speaks, courtesy of Bea Dong
   FBI
   1. I don’t trust anything that the FBI says, even in its own documents.
   2. The FBI has a long establish track record of sowing dissent and lies.
   3. It’s odd that in the FBI document referenced by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) video exposé, all names were blacked out, except for “Richard Aoki.”
   4. The agent said, “I helped develop him.” This sounds like bragging to me.
2. Seth Rosenfeld
   1. Seth Rosenfeld is a longtime journalist.
   2. He’s trying to generate a buzz to sell his book.
   3. All allegations refer to the period from when Richard was supposedly recruited right out of high school, up to and including 1967.
3. Richard Aoki
   1. Richard always talked about guns, the “pigs and/or fools.”
   2. Richard was super paranoid – “They’re always listening.” Richard never said anything sensitive over the phone. This is counter to what the FBI agent said on tape about Richard providing reports to him over the phone. In fact, the walkway to Richard’s rear upstairs apartment was purposely covered with loose gravel so that anyone approaching had to make a racket.
   3. He grew up in the internment camps and often spoke about being raised 200 percent American to prove himself.
   4. He served in the US Army as an arms specialist.
   5. He was a well-read intellectual.
   6. Richard’s 2009 response to Rosenfeld’s questioning was “Oh, that’s interesting.” This is a typical Richard response to draw out more information from Rosenfeld before he responded later in the interview that the FBI statements were not true.

While it is possible that he was “recruited” right out of high school when he was “200 percent American,” this remains only an allegation in my opinion. Besides, what are the specific impacts or consequences of Richard’s alleged reports to the FBI? None are mentioned that are tied specifically to Richard.

As much as authorities fear militant Blacks, they fear multi-racial solidarity even more – witness last year’s California prison hunger strikes. Here, Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikers’ picket line is being pushed by police at Sather Gate, UC Berkeley, in 1969. – Photo: Stand Up Archives, courtesy of Bea Dong

 

I was stunned by the allegations that Richard was an FBI agent. I never saw any signs of it since I started running with him in 1968. That said, I would be inclined to give Richard the benefit of the doubt. One’s life should be judged by its totality, not by short periods nor by a few of the mistakes we human beings inevitably make along life’s journey.

Miriam asks:

Why do I feel like me and my peeps just got yellow periled and willie hortoned? By a white dude in a suit? Why is fanning racial fear to sell product still called “yellow” not “white” journalism?

Cowardice in journalism triumphs when an experienced reporter uses insufficient evidence to accuse a movement leader of being an FBI informer betraying the Black Panther Party and others – after the brother is dead and the crows and worms have already done their work. It’s a shameful day when the reporter detonates this bomb in multiple media outlets as the first-day publicity launch for his book – even though the accused, Richard Aoki, and his movements are but a sideline in a book about Ronald Reagan, the FBI, Mario Savio, the Free Speech Movement and Clark Kerr. Sorry, Ronny, J. Edgar, Mario and Clark. Y’all white guys will never be as sexy as “sneaky japs” and “negroes with guns.” Remember Executive Order 9066. Remember COINTELPRO. Remember the Maine, William Randolph Hearst and “yellow” journalism.

Cowardice in journalism triumphs when an experienced reporter uses insufficient evidence to accuse a movement leader of being an FBI informer betraying the Black Panther Party and others – after the brother is dead and the crows and worms have already done their work.

 

It’s a sorry day when a reporter employs the Great White Hunter (GWH) school of hype, luring prey into the lair, building trust and then springing the gotcha! trap, as his cameraman zooms in on his prey’s distress. That’s what GWH did to our bro Harvey Dong for Rosenfeld’s Center for Investigative Reporting video blast, “The Man Who Armed the Panthers.”

At Richard Aoki’s memorial on May 2, 2009, was this stunning tableau of his life – the main message written in the center: “Serve the People.” In front were placed candles, rice and sake for folks to come pay their respects. – Photo: Andre Nguyen, www.takenbyandre.com

 

Did GWH tell Richard’s cousin, family minister, filmmakers and sisters and bros in the Third World Liberation Front and Black Panther Party that he was interviewing them to lend authenticity to his planned exposé alleging that Richard was an informer? As courtesies a reporter might extend to survivors of internment camps, FBI persecution and police violence? Did GWH inform the caretakers of the Harvey Dong, Richard Aoki and Ethnic Studies UCB archives of his purpose in using their materials, motherlodes created to tell our stories in our own words, without white voiceovers?

Richard was my Asian Studies 198 instructor on Third World Liberation Movements during Fall 1969. Before we met, he had urged Belvin (my “paramour” in FBI parlance) to take up leadership in the Asian American Political Alliance and the Third World Liberation Front’s Central Committee. Sure Richard was a vet and gun nut of NRA proportions, but his provocations to our movement were intellectual. His memorial yielded a thicket of troublemakers, a testament to the generations of critical thinkers he helped instigate. Lord knows he was no angel. And who can predict what information may emerge in the future. But to Belvin and me, Richard deserves a fair hearing because he served time when the U.S. government railroaded him and his family into a concentration camp for the “crime” of being Japanese and because he spent adult life motivating and educating youth.

Oakland High School students with the Asian American Movement were as outraged as his comrades in the Black Panther Party when Lil Bobby Hutton, 16, was murdered by Oakland police April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. King. Bea Dong is in front. – Photo: aam1968.blogspot.com

 

Any allegations against him merit careful investigation and analysis. Not the savaging of his memory and tooling of his family, friends and community to sell product. Not the retraumatizing of those who have already suffered FBI harassment and whose families, friends, neighbors and employers were interrogated because of our activism and, in some cases, because they were immigrants. As is now being perpetrated against our Arab, South Asian and Muslim sisters and brothers.

What gives Seth Rosenfeld the impression that he can play, plunder and dishonor us like this? Irrespective of what comes out about Richard in the future, I believe Rosenfeld owes Richard’s family, friends and community, especially the Black Panther Party and Third World Liberation Front strikers, a public apology for the sensationalist and racially exploitative way he conducted his investigation and book promotion in relation to Richard and our movements.

 

Any allegations against him merit careful investigation and analysis. Not the savaging of his memory and tooling of his family, friends and community to sell product.

 

And while dealing with my rage and sense of betrayal, I also struggle to hold a mirror to myself and my fellow writers of color. Let this painful episode be a lesson for us as well. May we be scrupulous in our assessments and work with people. May we not pander to prejudice, no matter how popular. May we write hard truths without twisting conclusions to fill our pockets and egos.

Belvin and Miriam Louie were members of the Asian American Political Alliance and such groups as the Venceremos Brigade, National Anti-Racist Organizing Committee, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Third World Women’s Alliance, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates and Women of Color Resource Center.

JERUSALEM - A court in northern Israel ruled Tuesday that Israel and its military were not negligent in the 2003 death of a U.S. activist who was crushed by an army bulldozer. The judge called the death a "regrettable accident," and said Rachel Corrie "did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done." "She consciously put herself in harm's way," Judge Oded Gershon said, adding that the driver of the bulldozer could not have seen Corrie, 23. She was wearing a bright-orange jacket and standing between the armored vehicle and a Palestinian home to prevent its being torn down in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Fellow activists who were with Corrie have no doubt that the bulldozer driver saw her and went so far as to roll over her twice. "I believe that this was a bad day not only for our family but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," the pro-Palestinian activist's mother, Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., said. There exists "a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military to provide them with impunity, at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she added. The State Prosecutor's office called Corrie's death, which happened at the height of the second intifada, a "tragic accident" but defended the verdict of the Haifa District Court. In a statement, it repeated the argument that the driver could not see Corrie, adding that it was "a military action in the course of war." "The security forces at the Philadelphi Corridor during 2003 were compelled to carry out 'leveling' work against explosive devices that posed a tangible danger to life and limb and were not in any form posing a threat to Palestinian homes," the statement read. "The work was done while exercising maximum caution and prudence and without the ability to foresee harming anyone." A military investigation after Corrie's death found no wrongdoing, so the Corries filed a civil suit in 2005 for the symbolic amount of $1 for the intentional and unlawful killing of Rachel. The United States has criticized Israel for failing to carry out a thorough, credible and transparent investigation, a criticism again leveled last week by the ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro Fellow activist Tom Dale wrote after the incident, "The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth. "All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time." The family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, is urging the family to take the case to Israel's Supreme Court. "This verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness," he wrote in a statement. "In denying justice in Rachel Corrie's killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights."

By Alexander Marquardt | ABC News – Tue, Aug 28, 2012

JERUSALEM - A court in northern Israel ruled Tuesday that Israel and its military were not negligent in the 2003 death of a U.S. activist who was crushed by an army bulldozer.The judge called the death a "regrettable accident," and said Rachel Corrie "did not distance herself from the area, as any thinking person would have done."

"She consciously put herself in harm's way," Judge Oded Gershon said, adding that the driver of the bulldozer could not have seen Corrie, 23.

She was wearing a bright-orange jacket and standing between the armored vehicle and a Palestinian home to prevent its being torn down in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Fellow activists who were with Corrie have no doubt that the bulldozer driver saw her and went so far as to roll over her twice.
"I believe that this was a bad day not only for our family but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," the pro-Palestinian activist's mother, Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., said.

There exists "a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military to provide them with impunity, at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she added.

The State Prosecutor's office called Corrie's death, which happened at the height of the second intifada, a "tragic accident" but defended the verdict of the Haifa District Court. In a statement, it repeated the argument that the driver could not see Corrie, adding that it was "a military action in the course of war."

"The security forces at the Philadelphi Corridor during 2003 were compelled to carry out 'leveling' work against explosive devices that posed a tangible danger to life and limb and were not in any form posing a threat to Palestinian homes," the statement read. "The work was done while exercising maximum caution and prudence and without the ability to foresee harming anyone."

A military investigation after Corrie's death found no wrongdoing, so the Corries filed a civil suit in 2005 for the symbolic amount of $1 for the intentional and unlawful killing of Rachel. The United States has criticized Israel for failing to carry out a thorough, credible and transparent investigation, a criticism again leveled last week by the ambassador to Tel Aviv, Dan Shapiro

Fellow activist Tom Dale wrote after the incident, "The bulldozer drove toward Rachel slowly, gathering earth in its scoop as it went. She knelt there, she did not move. The bulldozer reached her and she began to stand up, climbing onto the mound of earth.

"All the activists were screaming at the bulldozer to stop and gesturing to the crew about Rachel's presence. We were in clear view as Rachel had been, they continued. They pushed Rachel, first beneath the scoop, then beneath the blade, then continued till her body was beneath the cockpit. They waited over her for a few seconds, before reversing. They reversed with the blade pressed down, so it scraped over her body a second time."

The family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, is urging the family to take the case to Israel's Supreme Court.

"This verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness," he wrote in a statement. "In denying justice in Rachel Corrie's killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights."

National Call In Day in Support of NW Grand Jury Resisters - Wed 8/29

*Call In Day- Wednesday, August 29*^*th* * : *We are asking for people to call the US Attorney again this Wednesday, August 29^th . Call Jenny Durkan at _*(800) 797-6722* _ and leave a  message with the person who answers the phone. Last call in day, they tried to send people to a voicemail box. If they attempt to do that, tell whoever you are talking to that you would like to leave a message with them and not a voicemail.

_An example of what you might say:_

“Hi. I am Jolene Seaside. I am calling about the grand jury being
impaneled in Seattle tomorrow, August 30th. This case clearly shows that
the FBI and government are persecuting political dissent in our country.
It is despicable that US attorney and the government are harassing and
intimating this group of people for their political beliefs. I demand
that the grand jury and investigation be ended immediately, that the
governments repression of social movements stop, and that any items
seized in the raids be returned. Thank you for taking my comments.”

When you call the U.S Attorney's office, please let them know that you
are speaking for yourself and not the individuals resisting the grand
jury subpoenas. Be aware of how the things you say will impact the
people you are trying to help. If you make a call, please email us
(_nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com
_) and let us know how what kind
of response you got from the Attorney's office.

On August 2^nd , we overwhelmed the US attorney's office in Washington
with phone calls demanding an end to the grand jury.* *We want to keep
up the pressure and make sure the US attorney knows we are still
standing firmly in solidarity with those resisting the grand jury.

*Thursday, August 30*^*th* *:* Come to Seattle to stand against the
Grand Jury witch hunt! There will be a demonstration in solidarity with
those affected by the raids and subpoenas starting at 12:oo pm The
demonstration will be at the federal court house, 700 Stewart St., in
Seattle.

*Can't make it to Seattle?* Plan another event or demonstration in
solidarity! Please email us at _nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com
_ to tell us about your event

or attend one of these solidarity events:

*Portland, Oregon:* Come show resistance to state repression and
solidarity with those whose backs are against the way. 12:30 to 3:30 pm
at the Federal Court House (1000 SW 3^rd Ave).
https://www.facebook.com/events/401156179937499/

*Minneapolis, MN: *A rally in solidarity with Northwest/Midwest grand
jury resistors and
local Occupy Homes organizers. 12-1pm at City Hall (350 S 5th St).
http://twincitiesantirepression.tumblr.com/post/30111358127/a30-solidarity-against-state-repression

*Please donate! *There is a “Donate” tab on our website
_http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/_. We are trying to raise
legal fees for all of those affected. We also are trying to provide
material support for those that are resisting the grand jury.

Please keep checking our website for updates:
_http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/_. If you have questions,
email us at _nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com
_.

!Antifascista ruso detenido en Madrid! - Russian writer and antifascist Pjotr Silajev is still arrested in Madrid -

Spanish below

Russian writer and antifascist Pjotr Silajev is still arrested in Madrid

Silajev had been granted a political asylum in Finland early this year.
The Finnish embassy in Madrid has said that Silajev can be kept arrested
for 40 days! The Spanish police arrested Silajev in Granada because of
request from Interpol on the 21st of august. Contrary to the
expectations, he was not released in a trial in Madrid on the 22nd of
august, even though the Finnish embassy had provided all the papers
concerning his asylum and right to stay in the country. The court
wouldnt comment the case. The Spanish police said that he only had a
Russian passport when he was arrested. It is not clear how the Finnish
state will react to the arrest.

The Moscow Times interviewed Tanya Lokshina from The Human Rights
Watch, who said that the Spanish state does not have to take into
concideration the asylum from Finland and are free to send him back to
Russia. This does not seem possible. The Finnish YLE news has
interviewed the head of the immigration office Esko Repo who said that
all the European Union countries are committed to not sending people to
countries where they might face prosecution.

The lawyer of Silajev said the situation looks bad.

The Moscow Times said that the hardening line of the Russian government
towards protests can lead to even more cases where people need to flee
the country. The case of Silajev can be connected to other cases where
people who had fled the country have been tried to be sent back.

Silajev was granted asylum from Finland in april of this year. The
reason was the continuing political prosecution in Russia. The Russian
Federation wants him convicted for demonstrations against a highway in
the Khimki region outside Moscow. Among other protests, the house of the
city council was attacked and some people throw stones and fireworks in
the building in 2010.

The hunt of Silajev seems to be the last resort for the prosecutor to
convict someone from the Khimki protests. Last year Aleksey Gaskarov,
who was arrested for months, was releassed of all charges and Maxim
Solopov received a two year sentence for hooliganism. The third suspect
Denis Solopov has received an asylum from the Netherlands.

The Moscow Times have said that the mayor of Khimki Vladimir
Strelchenko resigned last week because of pressure from the new governor
of Moscow. Strelchenko is suspected of organising attacks against the
protesters who were resisting the building of the highway.

We are asking for solidarity from our comrades in Madrid and other
parts of the Spanish state! Support our anarchist and antifascist comrade!

Spread the word!

Taken from Finnish anarchist web page Takku.net

http://takku.net/article.php/20120824021656685

(via
https://avtonom.org/en/news/russian-writer-and-antifasAcist-pjotr-silajev-still-arrested-madrid)

!Antifascista ruso detenido en Madrid!


El escritor antifascista ruso, Pjotr Silajev continua detenido en
Madrid. Silajev había conseguido asilo político en Finlandia a principios
de año. La embajada Finlandesa en Madrid ha declarado que Silajev puede
seguir retenido hasta 40 días. La policía española detuvo a Silajev en
Granada bajo una orden de la
Interpol, interpuesta el 21 de agosto. Tras su traslado a Madrid,
contrariamente a lo esperado, no fue puesto en libertad condicional al día
siguiente, a pesar de que la embajada finlandesa le había proporcionado
todos los papeles necesarios para garantizar su asilo y el derecho a estar
en el país. El juez no aceptó recursos al respecto. La policía por su parte
dice que Silajev tan solo tenía un pasaporte ruso cuando fue detenido.
Todavía
está por ver cuál será la reacción del Estado finlandés.

The Moscow Times entrevistó a Tanya Lokshina de The Human Rights Watch,
quien declaró que el Estado español no tiene la obligación de considerar el
asilo otorgado por Finlandia, pudiendo enviar al activista antifascista
directamente de vuelta a Rusia. Ésto no parece ser cierto. El canal
finlandés de noticias YLE ha entrevistado a Esko Repo, director de la
oficina de inmigración, que ha explicado como todos los países de la Unión
Europea tienen el compromiso de no enviar personas de vuelta a países donde
puedan ser perseguidas por motivos políticos.

El abogado de Silajev dice que la situación pinta mal.

Según The Moscow Times, la creciente represión por parte del gobierno ruso
contra protestas y disidentes puede llevar a muchos más ciudadanos viéndose
obligados a huir del país. El caso de Silajev no está aislado; puede
conectarse con muchas otras historias de personas que, habiendo huído del
país, fueron perseguidas con la intención de enviarlas de vuelta a Rusia.

Silajev obtuvo asilo en Finlandia en abril del presente año. El motivo fue
la continua persecución política que estaba sufriendo en Rusia. La
Federación Rusa quiere encarcelarlo por las manifestaciones en contra de la
construcción de una autopista en la región de Khimki, a las afueras de
Moscú. Entre otras acciones, el ayuntamiento de la ciudad de Khimki fue
atacado con piedras y petardos en 2010.

La caza de Silajev parece ser el último recurso del fiscal para intentar
seguir criminalizando las protestas de Khimki. El año pasado el activista
Aleksey Gaskarov, tras pasar varios meses detenido, fue puesto en libertad
sin cargos mientras que Maxim Solopov, otro presunto implicado en las
acciones, fue condenado a dos años de cárcel bajo el cargo de
“hooliganismo”. El tercer sospechoso, Denis Solopov, ha recibido asilo
político en Holanda.

The Moscow Times ha publicado recientemente la dimisión del alcalde de
Khimki, Vladimir Strelchenko, que abandonó su cargo debido a presiones del
nuevo gobernador de Moscú. Stretchenko es sospechoso de haber organizado
ataques, realizados por mercenarios y grupos neonazis, contra la acampada
de manifestantes que resistía y bloqueaba la construcción de la autopista.

¡Pedimos solidaridad a nuestros compañeros de Madrid y otras partes del
Estado español! ¡Apoyo para nuestro compañero antifascista y anarquista!

¡Pásalo!

Extraído y traducido de la página web anarquista finlandesa Takku.net”


http://takku.net/article.php/20120824021656685

The Secret Scheme To Sabotage Abu-Jamal's Appeal Rights

Aug. 24, 2012 This Can't Be Happening

by: Linn Washington Jr.

 
Mumia Abu-Jamal, the internationally recognized American political prisoner, thwarted a Philadelphia judge’s secretive court order that could have eliminated his future appeal rights when he filed a last- minute motion on August 23rd challenging that order sentencing him to life-without-parole.

Most supporters and detractors of Abu-Jamal had been expecting the formal conversion of his controversial death sentence to life-without-parole in the wake of a federal appeals court’s second and final rejection of requests from Philadelphia prosecutors to keep Abu-Jamal on death row back in April 2011.

What was unexpected by Abu-Jamal supporters were the procedures surrounding the secretive court order, which appears to have violated a number of Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Abu-Jamal’s Pro Se Motion for Post Sentence Relief and Reconsideration of Sentence referenced Rule 720 of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedure which states in part that defendants shall “have the right” to make post-sentence motion but that motion must be filed “no later than 10 days after imposition of sentence.”

That secretly issued resentencing order occurred on August 13, 2012, exactly ten days before Abu-Jamal filed his motion.

If that ten-day filing period had expired, undiscovered due to secrecy-shrouded issuance of the resentencing order about which no public notice or notice was provided to Abu-Jamal and his legal team, his legal ability to challenge his continued confinement would have been damaged, including his probable loss of future appeal rights.

 

Mumia, off death row but fighting to escape life in prison, with attorney Rachel Wolkenstein and his wife Wadiya Jamal
 
Court rules and common decency require notice of court actions -- both pending and actually taken.
“This is the same backdoor stuff that’s always done to him,” a Mumia attorney, Rachel Wolkenstein, said during an interview outside of Philadelphia’s Criminal Justice Center after delivering Abu-Jamal’s motion.

 

Philadelphia Preident Judge Judy "Take the Law Into Your Hands" Dembe with her husband

Wolkenstein, who has worked on Abu-Jamal's case for over two decades, uncovered that secretly issued judicial order.

She became aware of it during a routine inspection of Philadelphia court records checking to see when a resentencing would occur.

Wolkenstein immediately informed Abu-Jamal and his legal team, all of whom were unaware of the order.

Wolkenstein then made two trips to the Pennsylvania prison holding Abu-Jamal, the last trip to bring Abu-Jamal's Motion to the Philadelphia court house a few hours before that ten-day filing deadline expired.

Rule 114(b)(1) of Pennsylvania’s Rules of Criminal Procedure states that a “copy of any order or court notice promptly shall be served on each party’s attorney…” –- procedures apparently not followed in this resentencing of Abu-Jamal.

Another provision of those Procedures, Rule 704, states the sentencing judge must advise a defendant “of the time within which defendant must exercise” their right to appeal and other post-sentencing matters.

“A number of death sentences have been reversed in Pennsylvania and the person's given life sentences. As far as I know each of those persons received more formal proceeding than what happened here,” Wolkenstein said.

Rule 114(A)(2) of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedure states that “all orders and court notices promptly shall be placed in the criminal case file.”

Yet Wolkenstein said when she asked Philadelphia court clerks for the resentencing file days after the order’s issuance, court clerks told her there was no file containing a record of that resentencing.
Philadelphia Court Clerk officials, when contacted for comment, requested that questions be made in a written format for review by their lawyers. Those officials did not reply to the submitted questions by the time of this article’s posting.

Another factor further obscuring that resentencing order, Wolkenstein said, is that the court docket captioned under the birth name Abu-Jamal -- Wesley Cook -- hasn’t been used since the late 1960s.
The majority of court files and court rulings (state and federal) list the name Abu-Jamal not Cook, thus persons examining court files generally look for Abu-Jamal and not the name Cook.
The perverse procedures swirling around that resentencing order were not unusual, given the legal improprieties and other irregularities that have stained Abu-Jamal’s case since his December 1981 arrest for killing a Philadelphia policeman.

Philadelphia’s President Judge, Pamela P. Dembe, resentenced Abu-Jamal to life-without-parole on August 13th, according to sketchy Philadelphia court docket documents.

Those documents state that Dembe was acting in accordance with a December 2001 order from a federal district court judge who voided Abu-Jamal’s death sentence after ruling that the judge at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 murder trial had incorrectly instructed the jury on how to conduct its death penalty deliberation.

“Nothing in that federal ruling says it’s OK for no notice and no record in the resentencing,” Wolkenstein said, questioning the legality of the resentencing.

Abu-Jamal, despite having his death sentence vacated in 2001, remained in death-row isolation until December 2011 because the federal judge that eliminated his death sentence granted a punitive request from Philadelphia prosecutors to keep Abu-Jamal on death row while they appealed that judge’s ruling -- a process that took ten years.

Abu-Jamal's Motion cites the fact that he wrongfully spent nearly thirty-years in death row isolation on a sentence federal courts ruled was illegal. His supporters, like Wolkenstein, cite that illegal death row incarceration as fact enough to release this man whose published six critically acclaimed books and over a thousand commentaries while on death row.

Philadelphia prosecutors pursued two unsuccessful appeals in federal appeals court seeking unsuccessfully to reinstate the death sentence that was vacated in 2001. There were also two efforts going up to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to uphold an execution.

In early December 2011 Philadelphia prosecutors announced that they were no longer appealing those federal appellate court rulings, thus ending their effort to execute Abu-Jamal.
But Pennsylvania prison authorities, instead of removing Abu-Jamal totally from solitary confinement in compliance with those long-delayed federal court rulings at that point, initially simply shifted him from death row to the more draconian isolation of administrative custody.
Prison officials advanced ever-changing rationales for keeping Abu-Jamal in administrative custody, including the Kafkaesque claim that they needed legal clarification that courts had formally replaced Abu-Jamal’s death sentence with life in prison.

Prison officials, in January 2012, facing international protests, finally relented and released Abu-Jamal from isolation into general population.

Judge Dembe’s secretive resentencing is in concert with earlier improprieties that have stalked all facets of Abu-Jamal’s arrest, trial, appeals and imprisonment.

Philadelphia police, for example, right from the moment of Abu-Jamal's arrest at the scene of the shootings, failed to perform the standard test to prove Abu-Jamal had even fired the pistol that police said he used to kill the officer.

One of the gravest yet least examined improprieties occurred on the eve of a pivotal 1995 appeal hearing when then then Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge issued a death warrant on Abu-Jamal.
That warrant was issued because lawyers in Ridge’s office had secretly and unlawfully intercepted correspondence between Abu-Jamal and his lawyers, and discovered the date they planned for the filing of their client’s appeal.

That Ridge-issued death warrant severely disrupted Abu-Jamal’s appeal proceeding, forcing Abu-Jamal’s defense team to fight the warrant while simultaneously preparing for the appeal hearing.
The execution date was also used by the appeal hearing judge -- Albert Sabo, who had also been the judge at Abu-Jamal's original murder trial -- as a justification for unduly speeding that hearing. That gratuitous rush Sabo ordered further constrained defense efforts by limiting their ability to locate and bring in witnesses.

Additionally, issuance of that death warrant was improper because Abu-Jamal had a constitutional right to that 1995 appeal of his death sentence before an execution could take place.
Federal and state courts have persistently ignored that glaringly improper intervention by Ridge, which effectively robbed Abu-Jamal’s of a key step in his appeal rights -- the right to have a fact-finding review of his flawed 1982 trial and to introduce new evidence of innocence.
Significantly, Judge Dembe is the same jurist who years ago rejected compelling evidence that the judge in Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial had made a racist, prosecution-favoring admission on the eve of the proceeding.

A court stenographer had come foreward and announced that she had, back in 1982 during the jury selection phase of the trial, overheard that trial judge, the infamous Albert Sabo, declare to his court aide that he was going to help prosecutors “fry the nigger,” a clear reference to Abu-Jamal.
Racist and/or pro-prosecution bias by a judge is forbidden by Supreme Court rulings and by Pennsylvania’s Code of Judicial Conduct, not to mention basic principles of Common Law.
Yet, Dembe refused to take testimony from the stenographer to determine the veracity of allegations from that woman, who hails from a family of police officers.

Dembe, in a ruling exhibiting ridiculous reasoning, claimed Sabo’s racist, pro-prosecution rant was immaterial to Abu-Jamal’s conviction because, she opined, a jury not Sabo convicted Abu-Jamal.
Dembe’s fundamentally flawed assertion pretended that Sabo, as trial judge, did not influence the course of the trial in a series of sabotaging actions like stripping Abu-Jamal of his right to represent himself at trial just days before testimony began (and sending his defense into a tail-spin), withholding favorable Abu-Jamal evidence from jurors, and even selecting a juror for duty who had honestly admitted to being solidly biased against Abu-Jamal.

The injustice in Abu-Jamal’s long-running case has elicited condemnation from numerous entities as diverse as Amnesty International, the NAACP and the City Council of Munich, Germany.
The injustice evident in Abu-Jamal’s case is consistent with the injustice exhibited daily by some Philadelphia police, prosecutors and judges.

The same day Abu-Jamal filed his resentence-challenging motion, a Philadelphia judge convicted Philadelphia broadcaster Jeff Hart of disorderly conduct for a minor incident arising from Hart's observing police brutality during the arrest of a suspect near Hart’s house.

Hart said the false disorderly conduct charge followed his politely asking a Philadelphia policeman to not use profanity repeatedly when ordering Hart and another man from the arrest scene.
Abu-Jamal, an award-winning broadcast journalist at the time of his 1981 arrest, frequently reported on this kind of rampant police abuse in Philadelphia.

A Move to Free the Cuban Five

Aug. 24, 2012 Counterpunch

by DANNY GLOVER and SAUL LANDAU

People stop in Victorville California 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles because they have to see someone at one of its several prisons (federal, state, county and city) or have prison-related business, or because they’re hot and tired coming back from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and the thought of a swimming pool and an air conditioned room seem irresistible.

We book rooms so we can get to the prison early and spend more time with Gerardo Hernandez. We know the way from Highway 15 west into rolling desert hills from whence one sees a massive gray concrete structure – the federal penitentiary complex.

We fill out the forms, pass through the X-ray machine, get patted down by a guard, get our wrists stamped with indelible ink that shows up under a scanner in the next room, and by 8:45 we are seated in the Visiting room, with black and Latino wives and kids who are seeing husbands and daddies.
Gerardo emerges; we hug and start talking. He told us that Martin Garbus, his lawyer, had filed a new writ (available at www.thecuban5.org) declaring Gerardo’s trial violated basic law and the

Constitution, and should be voided – freeing him and his comrades from their long sentences.
Documents show, according to the brief, that the U.S. government paid a host of Miami-based journalists to file negative stories on Gerardo and his fellow defendants (The Cuban 5). These U.S. government paid-for stories appeared in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV and influenced public opinion in the community, including jury members and their families, the writ argues, and therefore calls into deep question whether a fair trial in Miami was possible for the five accused men.

The brief states that the U.S. “government’s successful secret subversion of the Miami print, radio, and television media to pursue a conviction was unprecedented,” and “violated the integrity of the trial and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.”

Garbus further argues that “The Government, through millions of dollars of illegal payments and at least a thousand articles published over a six-year period, interfered with the trial and persuaded the jury to convict. The Government’s Response to this motion is factually barren and legally incorrect. The conviction must now be vacated.”

In the lengthy brief, Garbus shows how journalists wrote and spoke for news outlets for the sole purpose of painting a distorted picture of what the defendants were doing, which was trying to prevent Miami-based terrorism in Cuba, and instead, as Garbus’ brief shows, to portray them as military spies trying to prepare south Florida for a military invasion from Cuba.

The Miami Herald fired the journalists on the grounds they had broken a basic code – taking money from the government to write stories. The brief states that “Thomas Fiedler, the Executive Editor and Vice President of The Miami Herald, when talking about the monies paid to his staff members and members of other media entities by the Government, said it was wrongful because it was “to carry out the mission of the U.S. Government, a propaganda mission. It was wrong even if it had not been secret.” It was secret because the government officials knew it wrong and illegal.

Gerardo and four companions have served almost 14 years in federal lock up for trying to stop right wing Miami thugs from bombing Havana. In 1997, a series of bombs hit hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs. One tourist died and many Cuban workers in these establishments were wounded. The bombings were orchestrated by Luis Posada Carriles, resident of Miami today, and financed by right wing exile money.

As we sat in the visiting room surrounded by mostly people of color, with four guards watching us and the other visitors, we nibbled on salted snacks from the vending machine (“prison gourmet”).
Gerardo told us about his time in “the hole,” for no bad behavior on his part, but for his “protection”! He spoke of deprivation of the routine monotony. “Look around,” he said, “you don’t see a lot of middle class people here. There were none. Most of the prisoners were black or Latino, plus one who Gerardo thought was a descendent of poor Okies. All share a lack of money to hire good lawyers.

“I was transferred here from Lompoc in 2004 because Lompoc was not going to be a maximum security prison any more,” Gerardo told us. As if this cultured, disciplined man needed maximum security. We wondered how we would endure the punishment of imprisonment in a supposedly correctional and rehabilitative institution, where no correction or rehabilitation takes place.

We drove from the prison to the Ontario airport and asked ourselves: What, we asked ourselves, was a well-educated Cuban man doing in such a place? The U.S. government knew the Cuban agents had infiltrated Cuban exile groups that intended to cause damage to Cuba’s tourist economy. The five were fighting terrorism and sharing information with the FBI. They should never have been charged and now, almost 14 years of prison later, they should at last be freed.

President Obama could and should pardon them and send them home. Cuba has indicated it would respond by freeing Alan Gross, who worked for a company contracted to USAID with a design to destabilize the Cuban government and was convicted in Cuba. It’s time for President Obama to put this issue on his agenda.

Danny Glover is an activist and actor.
 
Saul Landau’s WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLASE STAND UP plays in Portland Sept. 12, Clinton Theater and Toronto Sept. 21.

Oakland, Sept 9 4pm - Richard Aoki - Cointelpro & Reclaiming the Legacy

*Richard Aoki - Black Panther & Asian American Activist*

*Cointelpro Attacks & Reclaiming the Legacy*

*Sunday, September 9th 4-6 pm*

EastSide Cultural Center
2277 International Blvd
Oakland

*with Diane Fujino,
Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis
& Bobby Seale *

Cosponsored By EastSide Arts Alliance and the Freedom Archives
for more information call: 510-533-6629 or 415 863-9977

Letters for the Cuban 5

The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5
www.freethecuban5.com
freethecuban5@gmail.com
718-601-4751
Cuban 5 Pressure Campaign

Support the Cuban 5!!

Due to the U.S. government’s denial to approve visas, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo and
Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert have not seen their wives since their incarceration!! Others
in the Cuban 5 have not seen their parents, wives and children with regularity. The
U.S. government has taken prolonged periods of time to issue them visas.

The U.S. government’s denial of visitation rights is a cruel and horrible form of
psychological torture. Their rationale for denial is ridiculous and baseless; none
of these family members are a threat to national security.

We are asking people to fax or mail out this letter to Ms. Navanetham Pillay, The
NEW High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Office for Human Rights-United Nations
Office at Geneva. We are asking her to intercede on behalf of the Cuban 5’s
mothers/wives to pressure the U.S. government to grant them VISAs to visit their
husbands/sons!!

Sign it and mail/fax to:


Ms. Navanetham Pillay, High Commissioner of Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva

8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211

Geneva 10, Switzerland

Fax: + 41 22 917 9011


Letter to High Commissioner


FREE THE CUBAN 5 MONTH SEPT. 12TH-OCT. 12TH!


Sat. Sept. 22nd, 2012 at 2pm

The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (Between. Bank and Bethune Sts.)
A, C, E or L to 14th Street & 8th Ave, walk down 8th Ave. to Bethune, turn right,
walk west to the River and turn left.
Suggested donation: $5-10 (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)


Free the Cuban 5 Film Series!


As part of our ongoing efforts to educate about Cuba, the Cuban 5, and the Cuban
political system, The Popular
Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 is hosting this film screening as part of
“Free the Cuban 5 Month!”

Join us for South of the Border, a film by Oliver Stone!


Film Synopsis:

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know
it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social
and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South
America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual

conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula
da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and
ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and
Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the
exciting transformations in the region.

The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5:
For more information on the Cuban 5 please contact: freethecuban5@gmail.com or
718-601-4751

Visit our website: www.FreetheCuban5.com







































Support the Cuban 5!!




Due to the U.S. government’s denial to approve visas, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo and
Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert have not seen their wives since their incarceration!! Others
in the Cuban 5 have not seen their parents, wives and children with regularity. The
U.S. government has taken prolonged periods of time to issue them visas.

The U.S. government’s denial of visitation rights is a cruel and horrible form of
psychological torture. Their rationale for denial is ridiculous and baseless; none
of these family members are a threat to national security.


We are asking people to fax or mail out this letter to Ms. Navanetham Pillay, The
NEW High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Office for Human Rights-United Nations
Office at Geneva. We are asking her to intercede on behalf of the Cuban 5’s
mothers/wives to pressure the U.S. government to grant them VISAs to visit their
husbands/sons!!

Sign it and mail/fax to:


Ms. Navanetham Pillay, High Commissioner of Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-United Nations Office at Geneva

8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211

Geneva 10, Switzerland

Fax: + 41 22 917 9011


Letter to High Commissioner








FREE THE CUBAN 5 MONTH SEPT. 12TH-OCT. 12TH!






Sat. Sept. 22nd, 2012 at 2pm

The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (Between. Bank and Bethune Sts.)
A, C, E or L to 14th Street & 8th Ave, walk down 8th Ave. to Bethune, turn right,
walk west to the River and turn left.
Suggested donation: $5-10 (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)


Free the Cuban 5 Film Series!


As part of our ongoing efforts to educate about Cuba, the Cuban 5, and the Cuban
political system, The Popular
Education Project to Free the Cuban 5 is hosting this film screening as part of
“Free the Cuban 5 Month!”

Join us for South of the Border, a film by Oliver Stone!


Film Synopsis:

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know
it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social
and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South
America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual

conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula
da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and
ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and
Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the
exciting transformations in the region.




The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5:
For more information on the Cuban 5 please contact: freethecuban5@gmail.com or
718-601-4751

Visit our website: www.FreetheCuban5.com

The Habeas Corpus of Gerardo Hernandez

August 23, 2012 | Havanna Times

The photos of the five Cuban agents are part of the island’s landscape. Photo: Raquel Perez

HAVANA TIMES — UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, officially expressed her concern over the lack of transparency and the legal procedures employed in the trials of five Cuban agents arrested in the US over a decade ago.

Apparently the prosecution and the judge played with cards up their sleeves by preventing the defense from having “access to all available evidence and documentary archives.” This was a violation of procedures so elementary that it even appears in TV series.

But the procedural mistakes don’t stop there. According to the UN rapporteur, the habeas corpus writ presented by the defense is being reviewed “by the same judge who was previously in charge of the case,” thereby making her the judge and the jury.

To top it all off, the hand of the US government can be seen in its pressuring of the courts for tougher sentences. Before and during the trial, several journalists in Miami received money to write articles against the five Cuban agents.

It really doesn’t seem legal for the executive branch to exert influence over the judiciary, nor is it very ethical for a journalist to agree to receive money from the government in exchange for writing articles to influence the outcome of an ongoing trial.

US attorney Martin Garbus says that between 1998-2001 an arsenal of propaganda was received by the Miami community through print, radio and television — paid for by the government — to interfere with the trail and to persuade the jury.

According to Garbus, fifteen journalists received money to write against the five agents. Apparently some received their funds secretly, with not even their media outlets knowing that they were working for another more generous employer. For this, one of the reporters was paid $175,000 USD.

The Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) of the US government was forced to admit to the accusation when reporter Oscar Corral revealed that 50 of his colleagues in Florida were paid by government-funded Radio Marti for articles supporting the position of the US Department of State against Cuba.

The scandal was such that Jesus Diaz, the editor of the largest newspaper in Miami, fired several journalists claiming that the press can’t “ensure objectivity and integrity if any of our reporters receive monetary compensation from any entity, especially a government agency.”

Gerardo Hernandez

The head of the Cuban agents, Gerardo Hernandez, was sentenced to two life sentences. Photo: Taken from Cubadebate

Despite the harsh words of the editor, this lack of ethics and professionalism seem not to have been considered too serious because a few months later several of those journalists returned to their old jobs, writing as if nothing had ever happened.

Certainly, there have been so many legal and ethical anomalies that make it seem logical for UN Rapporteur Gabriela Knaul to look askance at the independence of the judges in this case. Just the same, one would have expected such occurrences given the place where the trial was held.

Miami is a city where Cuban exiles have enormous political, economic and media power. It was highly unlikely to obtain a fair verdict in relation to these five agents who confessed to monitoring and reporting to Cuba on the activities of [terrorist figures] within that same community.

The atmosphere in Miami surpasses even their hatred of Fidel Castro and extends to citizens who live on the island. In the largest newspaper in the city diatribes appear ensuring that any relaxation of tensions “will have to be built by the submissive Cubans living on the island.”

The island’s residents are described as “those who have endured everything, who collaborated with everything, who have beaten Cuban dissidents, those who have betrayed their compatriots, who have tortured them, who have thrown them into the sea, and who have spent fifty years filling Fidel’s Revolution Square applauding and sniffing his ass.”

But it seems that the natural environment of that city wasn’t enough for Washington, so they decided that their official information apparatus would “burn up” hundreds of thousands of dollars to further inflame the situation and create a bonfire through the press.

In such an environment, Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to two life sentences, ensuring that he would remain behind bars even if reincarnated in another life. Now his defense is demanding a fair trial in an unbiased city and without pressure from governmental or media campaigns.

The issue is worrisome even to the United Nations, because — as American lawyer Martin Garbus has expressed — “every dollar for every article, photo or radio or television program that was spent on this secret program violated the integrity of the trial.”
—–
(*) An authorized translation by Havana Times (from the Spanish original) published by BBC Mundo.

Mumia supporters rally around the cause to end prison abuses

Aug 23, 2012 Amsterdam News

By ADONIS BELIN 

Mumia Abu-Jamal is probably the world’s most famous political prisoner. Known for his writings and being involved with pro-African-American movements, this former Black Panther who had been on death row for almost 30 years is now dealing with the controversy of a life sentence as supporters still demand that he is granted freedom.

However, on Aug. 13, apparently without his knowledge, Abu-Jamal was formally resentenced by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe to life imprisonment without parole.